Planting a new, managed variety is a risk for growers because of the great investment they have to make and a lack of information about the variety, says Bob Brammer, president of Crane & Crane, a growing and packing operation at ­Brewster, Washington. Crane & Crane has been involved in several controlled-variety programs. Brammer calculates that just to get the variety to a production level of 200,000 packed boxes requires an investment of about $3.5 million in the orchard, assuming development costs of $15,000 per acre. And, it’s almost certain that the ­commitment to join a program will be made […]